Page 19 of My Wild Mountain Man (Summer in the Pines #15)

I should have gone straight home after Karaoke night.

It wasn’t even the drinks that got me where I am now.

Nope!

I was stone-cold sober when I sashayed my way up the sexy sheriff’s porch at one in the morning.

Like a dirty little secret, I knocked on his door, my heart at my thorat.

My head couldn’t decide if I hoped he would be up and open the door or if he would sleep through it so I could slink off into the night and never admit to anyone what I’d done.

Not that I got a chance to think about which one I was leaning more towards.

How could I when the door opened and like a dirty sexy wet dream filled with promise, there he was.

Standing in front of me, shirtless with jeans tossed on that weren’t buttoned all the way.

His muscled body looked like it had been sculpted from the prettiest marble.

Smooth and slightly tanned with freckles all over his broad shoulders.

Freckles I wanted to get up close and personal with so I could count each and every one. With my tongue.

“Olive.” He smirked and I just like that the lusty haze I’d been in popped and I rolled my eyes. That smirk of his had probably melted panties away by the dozens.

Mine included.

It’s okay. We don’t want forever! A little voice in my head muttered, lying to both of us.

“Something I can help you with?” he asked as he stepped closer. The porch light was dim, casting the two of us under a soft golden hue.

Luck favors the bold. That little voice encouraged like it usually did to get me moving and get what I wanted.

And what I wanted was the man in front of me.

I craved him like I’d never craved anything in my life and that included the chocolate chip cookies I was famous for and couldn’t live without.

It was a glitch.

It had to be! I didn’t do relationships. Not since high school.

“Hopefully, sheriff. I mean, a girl can only hope.” I smiled innocently as I made sure to be as obvious as possible as I checked him out. I had no idea how a man could be that damn good looking. One night. One hot and heavy and hopefully long swety night and he would be out of my system.

“And what’s that Miss Trejo.” Miss Trejo.

It felt like a bucket of ice cold water dumped on my overheated body.

That little name for me had started a week ago.

I didn’t like it. I had no idea why the Sheriff got under my skin the way he did.

Maybe my sister, Raven, was right? Maybe it was because I had a feeling Luke as different.

“Olive.” I corrected before clearing and softening my voice a little, “Or you can call me Oli.” I added and it was obvious he found that weird. His surprise flashed for a split second before his brows bunched up.

“Have you been drinking?” He asked, his hand moved between us, and he tipped my head back, making our height and size different very obvious with that little move.

Usually, that wasn’t my thing. Dominance wasn’t what made me weak in the knees but like everything else the law-abiding man in front of me did seemed to make me wobble just a little.

Okay, a lot.

“No.” I answered honestly looking up at his blue eyes. Eyes I could float off in and let the world disappear around me. The thought made me frown and step out of his hold.

“This was a mistake.” I said out loud and he stepped forward, grasping my wrist.

“What was?” he asked, those intense azure eyes searched my face for a clue, for something. Something I was too afraid he could see.

“This.” I repeated. “Coming here. I’m sorry I woke you up.

I’ll go––“ I started to turn but Luke was bigger and faster than me. Somehow, he grabbed me by the waist and pulled my back flushed up against his front. The warmth of his strong body seeped into me making me feel weak. No weak wasn’t the right word.

Needy. Warm. Melty. His head dipped down and I felt like I was being held by some kind of predator.

His nose skimmed the side of my head and then my hair.

I could have sworn he’d even sniffed me, a deep guttural sound almost vibrated around us.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He rumbled against the shell of my ear.

“Sheriff.” I whispered my breath hitched when I felt it. Or felt him, I should say.

“I told you, to be careful.” He reminded me of something he’d said at the farmer’s market when he had insisted on sitting down next to me and talk up my cookies to anyone who passed by.

I’d sold out before noon, and he’d helped me pack up.

“I told you all sorts of shit happens, even in this little sleepy mountain town.”

“It’s Moonlit Pines,” I whispered unsure of why I wasn’t pulling away from his hold on me. “Nothing bad happens here.”

“Hmm,” he grunted against my ear, the deep sound made me shiver. “bad people are everywhere. “You’re not bad, Luke.” I said. I might not know a lot about the man who infuriated me as much as drew me in, but I knew he was good.

“You might not know what you’re talking about little girl.”

“Little girl?” I repeated. I wasn’t a teenager. I was twenty three!

“You make me feel like the big bad wolf ready to pounce and eat you up.” I couldn’t tell if that was a promise or a warning but either way, I trembled. Wet heat pooled between my legs as a dull ever growing ache started. I wanted him more than I wanted to breathe.

The sassy woman I had been up until I met him would have pounced at his offer. The words felt like they were on the tip of my tongue. Eat me, Sheriff. Devour me. But I couldn’t get myself to say anything.

“If you knew, if you had an inkling of what’s going on in my head, of what I want to do to you, little girl––“ he scoffed–– “You wouldn’t be standing at my door dressed like that looking like a sacrificial little lamb.” He shared and before I could process it, he stepped back.

The cold night air hit as I glanced up at him over my shoulder as he stepped back into the darkness of his house.

“Drive home safe.” He ordered, his voice deeper, darker than I had ever heard it.

And just like that I had been dismissed.

I couldn’t believe it. The annoying frustrating Sheriff had been chasing me for weeks. Talking to me. Calling and texting me.

Making his interest more than clear.

Only to turn out it had all been a game. Cat say hi to the mouse! He’d gotten under my skin, made me want the impossible made me think maybe he could be more than any other guy I had ever gone out with. And for what? All so he could brush me away?

Well fuck him! I didn’t want to be the Sheriff’s dirty little secret anyhow!